I'm an artist from Canada, who has only recently, in the last couple of years, tried pursuing my art as a career... I was one of those people who started very young, but I really never worked up the nerve to go into art.

Basically, what happened was when I went to a small college and took art at nineteen years of age, I was finally exposed to some of the variety and beauty of the art available in the world...

I was overwhelmed and I freaked out! I realized that I didn't personally measure up to what I saw in a lot of cases and decided to try something else. But I continued drawing and painting, as it's my passion, and decided to go for it after I hit middle age... A bit of a cliché, I'm sorry to say!

STYLE

It's probably pretty close to abstract expressionism. Although I would argue that because I've kept myself isolated from art generally, I developed a unique style of my own that stands out from the crowd.

My technique for paintings is probably quite traditional, paint in the background to get rid of the white canvas and then either leave the piece for awhile to think about it or paint in a skeletal design using dark brown to check composition and balance.

At that point, I might fill in some of the coloured areas to get an idea of the flow of the piece as well. I like to analyze where the viewer's eye will start in the piece and how it will move through it. If I don't like the path of the eye, then I'll add or remove pieces of the composition until I have a comfortable flow to the design that I find pleasing and has depth.

I'm very big on trying to give the impression of three dimensions, and also sharper areas to draw the eye.

I use a similar approach to drawings, but of course, it often doesn't involve colours, so I will base the balance on zones of dark and light to achieve a composition I like.

THEMES

Emotions, and how we experience them; dreams, and what we feel about them; basically the inner profile of ourselves as people.

Why do you make art?

I think it's like breathing for me. I've drawn and painted all my life, and basically, I started painting full blown oil paintings when I was eight years old. I did portraits in my teens and sold these in malls around where I lived. But I burnt out on realism pretty young, and now I think I'm more into abstraction as a way of expressing who I am.

How often do you paint?

Pretty well everyday, actually!

Do you sell your art?

No, since I've been trying to break into the art market only since the beginning of 2010, I've been finding it hard to get exposure and sell art. It's a whole new world to me, but I do believe that my artwork is worth it, as most people seem to be able to relate to it.

My other favourite way is by entering art competitions, it is a way to get exposure that often leads people back to my website.

INFLUENCES

Well, since I tend to use the avatar name dalifan quite a bit, I guess I will have to admit I like Salvidor Dali. Other influences include Emily Carr, aboriginal art such as Haida art, H.R.Giger, and Gervaso Gallardo. I was probably influenced by Dungeons & Dragons as well, since I played that in high school when it was done without computers...

In the last decade, like most people, I've been exposed to games on consoles and computers, and I think the graphics there are quite gorgeous is some cases, so that have probably reinforced my leaning towards vivid complementary colour schemes.

Can you tell us about a great contemporary artist?

Janelle McKain is a wonderful contemporary artist that I've recently discovered on deviantART. I really love her surrealist drawings, they have quite a bit of depth and beauty to them. You could get lost in them!

This is one of those questions that makes my mind go blank! I guess one interesting thing would be my recent rediscovery of the joys of drawing with graphite. I've been refreshing my drawing skills after finding a art game I wanted to play in deviantART.

On deviantART there are these groups that are essentially clubs for artists, and I decided to try something out in one of the clubs that looks interesting.

The club is called Exquisite Corpse, and the idea is based on an old parlour game from the 1800's. You do a surrealistic drawing on one half of blank illustration board and then cover your drawing except for a one inch strip closest to the other blank half. Then you mail the drawing to a collaborating artist and he or she finishes the other side of the drawing based on the one inch strip.

Both artists must be at a high skill level in drawing and the finished piece has to be accepted by the group in order to join. They've gotten some beautiful results from this, and it's amazing how the two halves can still meld together compositionally!

In 10 years, where would you like to see yourself as an artist?

Hopefully, I'll be more established and able to concentrate on the artistic end of creation of art as opposed to trying to get people to notice my work. But I'm sure that's every artist's desired result!

love this work. the colors are commanding and the compositions intriguing. good luck to you, teresa. i'm a late bloomer too and i'm am also trying to get a foothold out here in 'sell your art' land -- hope to see u on the other /selling/ side! Ur work is deserving